A saying doesn’t just ‘become’ an old saying….. …..there has to be enough merit to the advice that the saying is dispensing, to warrant repeating that saying over the course of generations. The old saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ cautions us against making judgements about something based solely on a superficial inspection of it. I think that, universally, people agree that this particular old saying offers up solid advice. Except, when it comes to athletics and coaching. Coaches and teams too often get judged based on a small, superficial snap shot of what they actually do……most of …
Blog Posts
The game of basketball gets a lot easier…. …..when the ball falls thru the magic hoop. I know that most of you are putting the final touches on your teams as you are getting ready for district play, and some of you are already a few games into your district schedule. I have coached almost 900 varsity basketball games, and watched hundreds more……and sometimes, the ball just won’t fall thru the magic hoop. I don’t throw that out there as an ‘excuse’ to lose basketball games, as I am a big believer in accepting responsibility (this will tie into a …
‘Can’t give up that many rebounds…. …..’can’t have that may turnovers’, ‘can’t miss that many free-throws’, etc…I hear that type of thing all the time from commentators and spectators. I call it ‘coaching thru the rear view mirror’, and it’s incredibly easy to do. I hear it from coaches on the bench too….no real correction or instruction….just analysis of what’s going on, from the perspective of the rear view mirror. I think that truly affective coaches coach thru the front windshield…….they do a great job of drilling and teaching priorto the game. Affective coaches teach concepts in their drills, and …
This perspective on leadership will probably be a little different than most of yours. But, like I said earlier, part of my objective is simply to give you some things to think about. The term ‘follower’ has always had a negative connotation about it. Kids are urged by their parents from an early age to be ‘leaders’. I think that in the desire to build leaders, we forget to teach kids how to follow. And, when it’s the right time to follow. I focused much more on following than on leading. In a team setting, having followers is every bit …
As I said in an earlier post, I believe that coaching is a noble profession. For it to truly be noble though, the work and the games have to be about more than wins and losses. I told my teams all the time: ‘if what we do out here is only about how many games we win, then athletics needs to be taken out of the curriculum…..it has to be about more than that’. We as coaches, have to make it all about more than how many games we win. Here is what is really hard about maintaining that perspective: …